Month: May 2018

May 31, 2018: Day 47 – Leviticus 7

This might be one of those chapters that we would like to not read and see as a complete anomaly to what the Lord requires and what the nature of our Lord is really like.  We find this chapter begin with the commandment to utterly destroy their enemies and to not keep any of the spoil.  I wish it would just end with that, but it actually gets more somewhat brutal.  In vs.2 we read: “you must utterly destroy them.”  The reasoning behind this is so that the sons and the daughters of the Israelites would not intermarry.  That was a huge issue for them because then they would lose their children to other religions.  

It is not a made up point.  I know when I served in Italy there was the same sense that if the children of the church did not marry within the same Protestant faith that they would be lost in the sea of non-Protestant Christianity and that would make the church sad and weakened.  Now, there is no comparison to what the Lord tells Moses, to destroy his enemies and we do not have enemies in other churches, only the devil is our enemy, and so this is not a great example.  But there is a sense of losing your identity when you get swallowed up in culture.  This can be seen as a generalized warning against that.

You also find in this chapter why the Lord chose the nation of Israel as the promised people and the chosen people.  It was not because of their number, but as vs. 8 states: “It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors.”  That is a personal God.

May 30, 2018: Day 46 – Leviticus 6

There is another transition to describe sins which must have been fairly common within that close knit community as they made their way from Egypt towards the promised land.  The sin which is lifted up is the sin of robbery, or defrauding someone, or taking something which is not yours, even if it is found and not claimed by anyone.  So this speaks out against anyone who would lie or swear falsely against someone for the sake of gaining in some way or shape or fashion.  So the previous chapter began with the sin of inaction, this chapter begins with the sin of action in order to materially bless yourself, by hook and crook.  You have some confessing to do if you are involved in that sin.

The chapter continues after addressing that singular sin to giving the details on how the priest is to perform the sacrifices that are supposed to be given for the people.  Notice in the past chapter that there was a hierarchy of sacrifices which were value neutral.  They went beast-fowl-grain.  Depending on what you could afford those were the sacrifices which you could bring.  Even though we do not have sacrifices today it is of comfort to know that the Lord opens His arms to all those who would come to him, regardless of their position or stature in society.  Praise be to God for that!

May 29, 2017: Day 45 – Leviticus 5

It seems like these verses follow naturally from what preceded in the previous chapter.  For anyone who sins and does not know it, it is still sin and they are guilty and they have to make atonement for it.  But notice that is not how this chapter begins.  This chapter begins with making sure that if you have testimony which would exculpate someone, then you are not to keep that testimony to yourself, but you are to speak out.  

It is a good thing to address the sin of inaction as opposed to the sin of action.  Often we focus on those things that we do wrong as the sin which we ought to remove from our lives.  Interestingly enough in our first world lives it is often the things that we do not do or the words which we do not say which can cause the most harm.  When we do not speak out against injustice, we do harm.  When we remain silent when we can make a difference, or when we keep to ourselves our material goods and do not look for ways to reach out to those in need, then we do harm.  The sin of inaction is much more insidious than the sin of action.  At least in the sin of action we have something concrete to approach and address.  In the sin of inaction we are on our own, we have to discover it for ourselves.  I encourage you to find ways in which we are sinning by our inaction and take steps to remedy it.

May 28, 2018: Day 44 – Leviticus 4

Have you ever heard the phrase that ignorance does not provide innocence?  The meaning is that if you don’t know about a certain law and you break that law, that you are still liable for the penalties that come under that law.  If you did not know that it was a 25mph zone and you thought it was 55mph zone and you were going 55mph you are not excused because you did not know.  You are still going to get a ticket.

Well, here the Lord provides for those times that you break the law of the Lord and you did not know that you had broken the law until later.  This chapter allows for the breaking of the law by the priest, the people, and the person.  It is a nice alliteration, but it provides for ways in which the sin can be forgiven, which again has to do with the sacrifice of animals.  So it isn’t that you can just break the law and ask for forgiveness later, these are times when you break the law and you simply did not know that it was a law.  We are not talking about it is better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.  

May 27, 2018: Day 43 – Leviticus 3

The best part of any meat is when the meat has a bit of fat either on the side or mixed in there.  There is a taste that for those who really love meat, is second to none.  Then there are others who want nothing to do with fat and will cut it out and make sure that they don’t have any of it.  In this Scripture we see that the fat is for the Lord, again the assumption is that this is the choicest of all the parts of the meat.  You offer to the Lord only that which is the best.

Do you notice how the blood is freely distributed around the tabernacle.  This is a theme in salvation that the blood of the lamb had to be shed.  When we talk about the death of Jesus there is a reason why he died on the cross and not just of natural causes from a heart attack or a stroke.  His blood had to be shed in order for our sins to be washed clean.  Not everyone is comfortable with that imagery.  The violence seen in the death of our Savior is undeniable, as is the violence in the sacrificing of these animals.  The common ground is that in the shedding of this blood our sins are washed clean.  Without the shedding of the blood, no sins would be expunged.  I’m not making this up, look at Hebrews 9:22.  “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

May 26, 2018: Day 42 – Leviticus 2

There is meaning behind these descriptions of what shall be brought to the Lord as an offering.  We saw the meat and the bird offerings from chapter 1, this chapter presents a more affordable option for those whose poverty may prevent them from offering meat.  A grain offering was presented to the Lord in a way that was perfectly acceptable, just as acceptable as a meat offering.  As a result we don’t see a hierarchy with whom God is pleased.  In fact, I would argue even if it doesn’t find its place in these verses, in most places in Scripture God has a propensity for the poor.  I would even go as far as to say that God has a preference for the poor.  

Do you notice  that all of these offerings are presented to the Lord, and then once that which is sacrificed is gone, the rest belongs to the priests who did the sacrificing.  It is in this way that the priests of the temple were able to make their living since they were responsible full  time for the matters of the tabernacle for the people.  As you can imagine it does tend to lend itself almost inevitably to some type of ulterior motive to have people bring in the best kind of sacrifices as possible, including making sure that the salt is not left out (vs.13)  

May 25, 2018: Day 41 – Leviticus 1

We find ourselves in the book of Leviticus.  It is pretty much composed entirely of the old Levitical law that were handed down to Moses from the Lord.  The Levites were considered the priestly class so when we talk about Leviticus we are talking primarily about the laws which were kept by that priestly class.  It is a book of the Bible that some struggle to find points of contact with in the 21st century.  So many of the laws that we see mentioned are not laws which we continue to follow.  It also allows for opportunities for people to be challenged and ask the question: well, if I don’t follow the Levitical laws, then why do I see other parts of Scripture as absolutely necessary to follow when I don’t offer sacrifices or eat kosher any longer?

That is a very fair question.  We need to see the consistency of Scripture and try to understand what is required of us when other Scriptures seem to say something else.  For example, we do have a whole assortment of kosher laws and what can be eaten and what should be avoided.  It is quite a strict list.  But then when Peter has his dream in Acts 10:28 we read  that what God has made should not be called or be considered unclean by anyone.  In this case then I see that what God has made is able to be eaten.  We no longer need to follow the dietary laws which were a big deal for so many over a long period of time.

We can and we should be able to glean some really important truths from these Scriptures.  The sacrifice of animals as seen in this first chapter is obviously not something that we do any longer.  But it is important to see that the Lord requires and expects the first fruits of what we have.

May 24, 2018: Day 40 – Exodus 40

All the planning and the preparations are done so that the Lord is able to move into His new digs.  It is very interesting that all of these chapters before this one was dedicated to the preparations that were needed in order to put everything in place, and now that it is in place, the people need to get in place as well.  Aaron, who is the designated high priest and his family the priestly family, is to be prepared just as the individual construction details had to be followed.  Yes, it is important to get the details right in the objects, but equally important to get the details right in the people.  Moses did this, and now it is time to experience the full presence of the Lord.

Notice, that the Lord continue to reveal himself by both cloud and fire.  That did not change, but the whole tabernacle thing was unique and different, and really something that was done so that the people would have more clarity on who the Lord was. 

We are done with Exodus and the book which dedicates itself to the escape from Egypt and some of the history that is involved in what happens immediately post-Egypt.  Now we move on to Leviticus, which seems to be much of the same, but very different as well.  Let’s move to there now.

May 23, 2018: Day 39 – Exodus 39

Did you notice that the high priest wore a turban?  Don’t we normally associate turbans with people who believe in the God of Islam?  Not here, be really careful in judging people by what they wear, or the tattoos that they have, or anything that we think we understand people by what we see on the outside.  Remember what the Lord tells Samuel in I Samuel 16:7 and what Paul reminds us of in I Corinthians 5:12.  

The work is complete for the temporary place of worship for the people of Israel.  The Tabernacle was brought to Moses, for inspection I would guess.  He looked it over and the Scripture tell us that he blessed the people as a result of what he saw.  I guess he was pleased that it was done as the Lord had commanded.  Quite a few times it mentions that it was done the way that the Lord had commanded.  It must have taken time.  We don’t know how long it took.  Do you know something else that I heard today that I hadn’t thought about before.  Jesus is never in a hurry.  No, literally, he is never in a hurry.  You never see him run, or jog, or hurry people up to get a job done.  

In fact, he tends to be painfully deliberate.  It would drive me crazy if I were a disciple.  I think this week I was convicted of one of my many faults.  I am someone who wants to be able to discern and lead the people in the way of the Lord, in a hurry.  It isn’t because I have somewhere else to go, but simply because I like to get things done.  I am so praxis oriented that waiting for the voice of the Lord doesn’t sound like work to me, it sounds like a waste of time.  Tell that to Elijah.  He had to wait, and he was rewarded with the presence of the Lord.

This week in Washington DC has been incredibly rewarding in so many different ways.  Exodus is coming to a close, which is fitting also for my time here in DC.  I have been convicted of a number of things and I still have a lot on which I need to work.  I have found myself in tears as some of the speakers encourage us as pastors to do the work of God and to do the work for the people without tiring.  That has never been my problem, but wanting it to be done quickly, well, that’s a different story.  Jesus was deliberate, very deliberate.  That is helpful for me to remember.  Building the tabernacle took time.  Rome wasn’t built in a day, after all.  Neither is the kingdom of God.

May 22, 2018: Day 38 – Exodus 38

So this master craftsman keeps showing up.  I didn’t realize what a crucial place Bezalel plays in Exodus.  I had not remembered this guy at all.  I knew Pharaoh, I knew Moses, I knew Aaron, I even knew Moses’ wife Zipporah (who doesn’t remember that name?), but Bezalel?  He didn’t make my list of the top 5 people in Exodus, and he probably should have.  So many chapters are given over to drawing out the details of all the work that he did.  I mean, this was work, real work.  

He is in that long list of people who have served the Lord their entire life and are never remembered.  We remember those who were front and center, but not Bezalel, he was behind the scenes making sure that all of the details were carried out.  He was the one behind the scenes making sure that the commandments of the Lord were carried out in relationship to how the temple of the Lord was supposed to look like.  He never speaks, he never objects, he never interjects, he just does what he is asked to do for the kingdom of God.  What a servant. 

Did you notice how many people were counted as being in the tribes of Israel?  603,500.  That is not an insignificant number especially since it doesn’t mention the women and children in this number.  We are talking about millions of  people migrating toward the promised land.  That is a bit difficult to control and it puts these things into perspective.  It makes you realize that even if only 10% of the population wanted the golden calf, that is 60,000 people plus. That’s hard to deny and that is not an insignificant voice.  I’m so glad that we are doing Exodus, it is really revealing things that in the past we probably just looked over.  So much is in the details.

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